W[illiam]. Buchanan. Memoirs of Painting, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revolution. London, 1824, vol. 2, pp. 285–86, 292, no. 135, as purchased by Alexander Baring from the collection of Lucien Bonaparte.

John Smith. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. Vol. 7, London, 1836, p. 112, no. 307, mentions two engravings after it, one by Rembrandt in the Bonaparte collection, and another by Surugue.

Wilhelm [von] Bode. Studien zur Geschichte der holländischen Malerei. Braunschweig, 1883, pp. 532–33, 585, no. 193, states that it was no doubt painted slightly earlier that the 1661 etching, for which it was probably a study.

Wilhelm [von] Bode with the assistance of C. Hofstede de Groot. The Complete Work of Rembrandt. Vol. 6, Paris, 1901, pp. 23, 144, no. 456, pl. 456, as in the Jeronymous de Bosch sale of 1767, and bought by Foucquet [Fouguet].

Hans Wolfgang Singer. Rembrandt, des meisters Radierungen. Stuttgart, 1906, pp. 276–77, believes that the etching in the Ashburton collection is not by Rembrandt, but that the painting is autograph.

"Ashburton Collection Sold." American Art News 6 (October 19, 1907), p. 1, as a picture said to be "retained by Lord Alfred de Rothschold [sic for Rothschild] to secure interest on a loan made to Lord Ashburton".

C[ornelis]. Hofstede de Groot. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch Painters of the Seventeenth Century. Ed. Edward G. Hawke. Vol. 6, London, 1916, p. 306, no. 636, as in the Tijler sale of 1759.

Horst Gerson, ed. Rembrandt: The Complete Edition of the Paintings. By A[braham]. Bredius. 3rd ed. London, 1969, p. 572, no. 291, ill. p. 221, in text, erroneously refers to it as on paper, and in caption as on panel; calls the execution "too weak to be attributed to Rembrandt".

Ernst van de Wetering inRembrandt the Printmaker. Exh. cat., Rijksmuseum. Amsterdam, 2000, pp. 58–62, figs. 27, 29 (x-radiograph), based on technical analysis, attributes it to Rembrandt, and calls it a sketch for the large Coppenol etching of 1658.